After a disappointing overtime loss in Colorado on Wednesday night, the Ottawa Senators are set to face the Nashville Predators for only the 15th time in franchise history.

In these 15 games, the Senators are 9-5-1 (.633) – including a 4-3-0 record when the Senators are the visiting team.

This will be Ottawa’s first game in Nashville since they won 2-1 on December 23, 2010. Alexei Kovalev and Nick Foligno provided the offence for Ottawa and Brian Elliott made 25 saves on 26 shots for the victory.

Storylines…

For the second consecutive game, this Senators matchup will feature a reunion of sorts. Wednesday night’s matchup featured the return of Craig Anderson to Colorado and now the Senators will square off against Mike Fisher and the Predators for the second time since the Senators traded him in February of 2011.

Although the Senators’ four –game winning streak came to an end with their overtime loss on Wednesday night in Colorado, in picking up a point, the Senators matched their longest streak of the season picking up at least one point in five consecutive games. The last time the Senators did this was between November 1st through the 9th.

For what it’s worth, Nashville is coming off a 4-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks and they have only won once in their last five games.

After going ten games without a goal, since Erik Karlsson setup Clarke MacArthur with an empty-netter during Ottawa’s 3-1 win over Washington, MacArthur has now scored in four consecutive games.

The Senators will square off against an unfamiliar face in goal.

Pekka Rinne has been cleared to resume weight-bearing exercises just recently, but he has been sidelined for the bulk of this season after developing a bacterial infection following hip surgery.

Rinne’s absence means that one of Marek Mazenec or Carter Hutton will get the start in goal. Mazanec has received the bulk of the starts this season. In 23 games, the 22-year old has posted an 8-9-3 record, a 2.84 goals against average, two shutouts and a save percentage of .903.

Nobody in Nashville is hotter than Craig Smith right now. In his 11 games, Smith has seven goals.

The biggest off-ice story for this game involves Nashville GM David Poile meeting face-to-face with Bobby Ryan to apologize for the comments made by USA Hockey’s braintrust during the Olympic selection process that were published by ESPN’s Scott Burnside following the announcement of the Olympic roster.

Since USA Hockey’s announcement, Ryan has yet to score a goal. In fact, his current four game goalless streak has matched a season high.

Interesting Stat #1

On the defencemen scoring leaderboards, since December 1, 2013, only Chicago’s Duncan Keith (19) has more points than Shea Weber’s 17. Weber is tied with Erik Karlsson and Dustin Byfuglien for most goals by a defenceman this season with 10.

Interesting Stat #2

Sticking with the Karlson versus Weber theme, since Erik Karlsson came into the league, here is a look at the defenceman scoring leaderboard since the start of the 2009/10 season:

Games

Goals

Points

Duncan Keith

331

31

224

Erik Karlsson

278

53

204

Dustin Byfuglien

318

67

202

Keith Yandle

337

50

201

Shea Weber

328

70

197

Interesting Stat #3

Getting ahead early will be important for the Senators because the Nashville Predators are 14-1-1 when leading after one period and are 14-0-2 when leading after two periods.

Interesting Stat #4

Barring an injury replacement, the Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers will remain tied for sending the fewest number of players to the 2014 Olympics with two each.

Milan Michalek (Czech Republic) and Erik Karlsson (Sweden) will represent the Senators, while Shea Weber (Canada) and Roman Josi (Switzerland) will be representing the Predators.